Casa Kimberly
The Legacy of Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton Gets a Make-Over
The filming of the 1964 John Huston movie “The Night of the Iguana” attracted the actor Richard Burton and his then mistress Elizabeth Taylor to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where he bought her a house on a cobblestone lane and another across it for himself. Long vacated by the celebrities, the dual villas, connected by a bridge modeled after the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, reopened this week as a nine-room boutique hotel known as Casa Kimberly, the original name of Ms. Taylor’s home. The hotelier Janice Chatterton, who owns the nearby Hacienda San Angel hotel in another of Mr. Burton’s former homes, renovated the original bridge as well as Ms. Taylor’s bedroom suite featuring a heart-shaped, pink marble bathtub and a private pool and Jacuzzi on the wraparound terrace. Other rooms feature colonial-style four-poster beds and chandeliers, and shared amenities include a swimming pool, a two-treatment-room spa, an open-air restaurant and a sun terrace that overlooks the terra-cotta rooftops of town. Rooms from $434.
Source: New York Times
MEXICO Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor had almost as much of a thing for Puerto Vallarta as they had for each other. When Burton was filming 1964]s “The Night of the Iguana” in the fishing village, the two (then married to other people) set up a love nest there named Casa Kimberley—two casitas joined by a bridge that let the idolized adulterers scurry back and forth without being seen by the paparazzi. The hideaway has been converted into a newly opened nine-room inn. Even if you don’t stay in Ms. Taylor’s namesake suite, complete with her heart-shaped tub, you can swim in the pool the couple shared. From about $435 a night, casakimberly.com
Source: The Wall St. Journal
PUERTO VALLARTA NOSTALGIA